Page 35 of A Fury Of Shadows

Abraham drew a sharp breath.

“What?!” Bryony mumbled.

Mae explained what they had witnessed that morning.

“Those devils should never have been able to get through my magic the way they did, however tired I was. And they shouldn’t have been able to pin down Brimstone and Hellreaver. They were faster and deadlier than the ones we encountered in Prague.” She faltered, her tone turning bitter. “There’s something else.” She met Bryony’s stunned gaze. “I sensed Nikolai’s Hellfire Magic and Vedran’s black magic in those collars and inside Oscar. That’s why my spells didn’t work on him.”

Vlad cursed under his breath. Cortes furrowed his brow.

Mae fisted her hands. “I think Vedran has found a way to use Nikolai’s powers against me.”

A stark silence fell in the wake of her words.

Bryony’s complexion had turned ashen. “Oscar canceled out your magic?!”

“Yes. He and Barquiel were trying to capture me.”

“They told Mae they would let us go if she went with them,” Violet said darkly at Abraham and Bryony’s confused stares.

A wave of incubus energy pulsed across the room and brushed Mae’s skin. She met Vlad’s furious gaze.

“Do you think Vedran still means to enslave you with theMarriage of Magic?”

Mae bit her lip. She couldn’t deny that the thought had crossed her mind. The incubus’s face darkened.

Serena’s puzzled gaze swung between them. “Marriage of Magic?”

“It’s a ritual that allows one marriage partner to command the magic of the other,” a pale-faced Abraham explained distractedly.

“That sounds…unpleasant,” Lou murmured.

Bryony regained her composure. “If Vedran is indeed still intent on matching you with Oscar, then there’s a good chance he has yet to achieve his goal of securing the first Sorcerer King’s soul.”

Oscar’s face rose before Mae. She shuddered. “I agree. Oscar mentioned something this morning. It looks like they haven’t found theBook of Shadows.”

Tom looked lost. “The book of what now?”

“It’s a tome that is said to house the soul of the first man Azazel taught magic to,” Serena said quietly before anyone could reply. “It was the price he had to pay for the gift he received from the Third Leader of the Grigori.” The super soldier shrugged at their blank stares. “Sebastian is a collector. He knows all kinds of stuff.”

“Why did they go after Fire Magic users and try to capture Roman if they hadn’t found theBook of Shadows?” Violet asked dubiously.

Mae hesitated. “My best guess is they wanted to be ready for when they did.”

Cortes leaned his elbows on the table and steepled his hands under his chin. “If I were in Vedran’s shoes, I would choose Nikolai as my heir.”

Mae’s breath caught. The sorcerer watched her closely in the aftermath of his bombshell statement.

“It’s not just because his Hellfire Magic could probably open that book,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “It would be easier to get you to accept a man you love than one you loathe with every fiber of your being.”

A muscle jumped in Vlad’s cheek.

“However much I hate to agree with Enrique, he has a point,” the incubus said reluctantly. “Nikolai is the logical choice for the position of the next Sorcerer King right now.”

Mae scowled at her fisted hands. She could only imagine how utterly devastated Nikolai would be if he emerged from the spell controlling him to realize not only what his father had made him do to her and their friends, but what he intended for him. The last thing the sorcerer would want was to assume the title of the man responsible for his mother’s death.

She looked up and found herself the focus of a battery of stares.

“Can you fight him?” Bryony asked, troubled. “Really fight him?” She paused. “If it comes to it, can you kill Nikolai?”

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